As of the time I started this rant, the “Using themes and messages without being obnoxious rant” was winning by one vote, so that one is first.

( Such a careful web to weave… )

The marriage rant shall be next.

Back at school now. There shall be much rambling later.

Part of a Swinburne poem that makes me smile, "The Higher Pantheism in a Nutshell" (a parody of Tennyson's poem "The Higher Pantheism"):

One, who is not, we see: but one, whom we see not, is:
Surely this is not that: but that is assuredly this.

What, and wherefore, and whence? for under is over and under:
If thunder could be without lightning, lightning could be without thunder.

Doubt is faith in the main: but faith on the whole is doubt:
We cannot believe by proof: but could we believe without?

Why, and whither, and how? for barley and rye are not clover:
Neither are straight lines curves: yet over is under and over.

Two and two may be four: but four and four are not eight:
Fate and God may be twain: but God is the same thing as fate.

Ask a man what he thinks, and get from a man what he feels:
God, once caught in the fact, shows you a fair pair of heels.

Body and spirit are twins: God only knows which is which:
The soul squats down in the flesh, like a tinker drunk in a ditch.

*giggle*

( Beliefs and prejudices in fantasy )

I've felt a temptation to write message fantasy myself, but thank all the gods you may believe in, I've never put it into action.